MODERN MASTERPIECES

MUSIC
TO YOUR
EARS
Thanks to SMARTPHONES, WI-FI and STREAMING, audio has
become UBIQUITOUS, yet HIGH-QUALITY SOUND has remained stubbornly
inaccessible to all but a sub-culture of TECHNOPHILES. Until now...
WORDS by KEN KESSLER
THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE
Linn Series 5 530 system
in Timorous Beasties
Grand Blotch damask print,
£12,350; YAR Audio,
from £172,000
From a knowledge of wines to what shoes
to buy, from the finest fountain pen or
wristwatch to the most exclusive resorts, the
average consumer’s understanding of luxury
has increased to the point where it is arcane
only in its pricing.
Only one sector bucks the trend: audio.
The lowest common denominator always
grabs the biggest market share – just as
tabloid newspapers outsell the big-words
broadsheets, so inferior headphones, speakers
and wireless components trump complexity.
However, the higher end of the industry
is gradually changing.
Encouraged by the custom-installation
market and the ease of set-up and operation
thanks to apps, wi-fi and Bluetooth, serious
component-makers have addressed all the
concerns that keep their superlative wares out
of elegant homes. The days of ugly, box-type
speakers or laboratory-look electronics are
over, these items having been replaced by
hardware an owner would happily show off.
Domestic acceptance of luxury audio has
been aided by a generation of sophisticated
installers such as Ideaworks and Cornflake,
which are creating listening rooms and home
cinemas in which everything is integrated
and the usage has been simplified and
personalised. In 2016, the music lover is
more likely to operate his or her hi-fi system
with a tablet or smartphone than with a
conventional hand-held remote control.
While the dominant brands are still the
plastic merchants who sell mediocre gear
based on price, their success guaranteed by
huge advertising budgets, they can no longer
claim the sole ease of use that plug-and-play
technology offers. The most sophisticated
amplifiers in the world – previously the
province of hard-core audiophiles prone to
technobabble – have been made streamingfriendly.
Even the enthusiast with a wall
full of vinyl is now likely to have a MacBook
Air or Samsung tablet hooked up to the
system for listening to Deezer, KKbox,
Rhapsody, Songza, Tidal, Spotify, Amazon
music, Pandora or internet radio.
Combining all this are home-automation
systems from the likes of Crestron, which
makes products that deal with the controls
actually used by the client. Behind that
attractive, intuitive app screen, and of no
concern to the user, are the on/off and timer
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